Pelosi's 'Assault on Women' Comments Opportunistic

Nancy Pelosi’s recent comments that the GOP was going to “make another assault” on women’s health “smacks of political opportunism,” The Washington Post concluded in a fact check of the statement.

Pelosi, D-Calif., made the comment during a debate on how to fund subsidized college loans. The House GOP voted to pay for it by cutting the Prevention and Public Health Fund in Obamacare. Pelosi assailed the move.

“In order to pay for it, [House Republicans] are going to make an assault on women’s health, make another assault on women’s health, continue [their] assault on women’s health, and pay for this with prevention initiatives that are in effect right now for childhood immunization; for screening for breast cancer, for cervical cancer; and for initiatives to reduce birth defects — a large part of what the Centers for Disease Control does in terms of prevention.”

However, looking at the fund, the Post noted in the “current fiscal year, there is very little money specifically allocated to women’s health programs.”

The president’s budget for fiscal 2013 does propose moving $260 billion in funding for cervical and breast cancer prevention into the fund. “However, we think an ordinary person would think Pelosi’s remarks made it seem as if the funding proposed for 2013 is actually happening right now,” the Post said.

The Post concluded that “this is a good example of politicians using obscure details of the budgetary process to score political points.”

“Pelosi could have raised concerns about perceived cuts in preventive health. She could have also noted that women benefit greatly from such efforts. But she — and fellow Democrats — went too far to label this ‘an assault on women’s health.’ Maybe evidence of that will emerge through the regular appropriations process — at which point we could revisit this ruling — but for the moment this smacks of political opportunism,” the Post wrote in awarding the statement two Pinocchios.